Baseball Roundup: Arenado, Rockies Recycle Giants

Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor (12) is upended after tagging out Seattle Mariners' Danny Valencia on a steal attempt in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, June 18, 2017, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Colorado Rockies' Nolan Arenado, front, is doused by teammates Trevor Story, back left, and Ian Desmond after Arenado hit a walkoff, three-run home run off San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Mark Melancon in the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 18, 2017, in Denver. The Rockies won 7-5. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Atlanta Braves' Nick Markakis reacts after being hit by a pitch from Miami Marlins' Jose Urena in the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 18, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The Associated Press

Monday, June 19, 2017

Print

Denver — Nolan Arenado completed the cycle with a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Colorado Rockies stunned the San Francisco Giants by rallying for a 7-5 victory on Sunday.

Arenado hit the first pitch he saw from All-Star closer Mark Melancon (1-2) into the left-field seats to finish a four-game sweep. The slugger was mobbed at home plate by teammates, with a frenzied sellout crowd chanting “MVP! MVP!”

With the best record in the National League, the surprising Rockies have won five straight overall and nine in a row against the Giants.

Last-place San Francisco has dropped six consecutive games and nine of 11.

Melancon retired his first batter, but three singles produced a run and brought up Arenado, who tripled in the first, singled in the fourth and had an RBI double in the sixth. He hit a 91 mph fastball for his 15th homer and first career cycle.

Carlos Estevez (4-0), called up from the minors before the game, struck out one batter in the ninth for the win.

Indians 5, Twins 2

Cleveland came into the series trailing the Twins by two games in the AL Central. The sweep vaulted the Indians two games ahead and gave the defending AL champions sole possession of first place in the division for the first time since May 10.

Bauer (6-5) allowed two runs and four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts. He retired 15 straight before hitting Kennys Vargas with a pitch in the seventh. Eduardo Escobar and Eddie Rosario followed with RBI hits to put Minnesota on the board.

Dodgers 8, Reds 7

Cincinnati — Logan Forsythe and Justin Turner homered, Kenta Maeda (5-3) pitched five strong innings and drove in two runs, and Kike Hernandez made a spectacular game-saving catch as Los Angeles held on to beat Cincinnati.

Cincinnati nearly rallied all the way back from an 8-1 deficit in the sixth inning. However, Hernandez went back to the left-field wall and made an awkward leaping grab of Joey Votto’s attempt at a go-ahead extra-base hit with runners on first and third in the eighth.

Kenley Jansen got the last three outs for his 15th save.

Cubs 7, Pirates 1

Pittsburgh — John Lackey and three relievers combined on a three-hitter, and Anthony Rizzo homered among his three hits to lead Chicago past Pittsburgh.

The defending World Series champions took two of three in Pittsburgh and improved to 34-34 this season.

Lackey (5-7) allowed two hits and struck out four over six innings. Carl Edwards Jr., Hector Rondon and Brian Duensing finished up for the Cubs.

The first four Chicago runs came against Jameson Taillon (3-2), who made his second start since returning from surgery to treat testicular cancer. Taillon gave up eight hits in five innings while striking out four.

Athletics 4, Yankees 3

Oakland, Calif. — Khris Davis hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the third that held up to back rookie Jharel Cotton’s first victory since May 4, and Oakland completed a four-game sweep of slumping New York.

New York welcomed back flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman but still lost its season-high sixth straight game following a six-game winning streak, finishing a disappointing 1-6 road trip with a weekend dud against the American League’s worst team.

Diamondbacks 5, Phillies 4 (10)

Philadelphia — Rey Fuentes hit his first major league home run in the 10th inning, lifting Arizona over Philadelphia.

Fuentes entered in the eighth inning as a pinch runner and was caught stealing. However, the rookie redeemed himself with a homer off Jeanmar Gomez (3-2) with one out in the 10th.

Brewers 2, Padres 1

Milwaukee — Jimmy Nelson struck out 10 in his first career complete game and Milwaukee got home runs from Hernan Perez and Manny Pina to edge San Diego.

Nelson (5-3) allowed six hits and two walks while throwing 118 pitches in his 89th major league start. He gave up only an unearned run and lowered his ERA to 3.28.

Orioles 8, Cardinals 5

Baltimore — Ubaldo Jimenez was stellar in his first start since May 22, Mark Trumbo homered for the second consecutive day and Baltimore beat St. Louis.

Baltimore homered 10 times while winning two of three from the Cardinals to improve to .500 (34-34). It was the first time the Orioles won a three-game series since May 29-31 against the Yankees.

Mariners 7, Rangers 3

Danny Valencia’s two-run homer capped a four-run first against Texas ace Yu Darvish (6-5), and the Mariners beat the right-hander for the first time in eight tries on the road.

Mets 5, Nationals 1

New York — Jacob deGrom hit his first major league home run and shut down a bruising Washington lineup on three singles for eight dominant innings, giving New York a win that prevented a four-game sweep.

The NL East-leading Nationals had been 6-0 at Citi Field this season and had battered the Mets in three games this week, never trailing while totaling 18 extra-base hits. But they had trouble touching the blue-stitched balls — used all around Major League Baseball on Father’s Day — thrown by deGrom (6-3).

Blue Jays 7, White Sox 3

Martin tied the game in the sixth with his seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to the center field fence that bounced off the glove of outfielder Willy Garcia and over. Ryan Goins tripled home Steve Pearce against Anthony Swarzak (3-2) for the tiebreaking run two batters later.

Braves 5, Marlins 4

Atlanta — Brandon Phillips’ single drove in Johan Camargo from third base in the ninth inning to give Atlanta a win over Miami.

It was the second straight game-ending hit for Phillips, whose run-scoring single in the 10th gave Atlanta an 8-7 victory Saturday.

Royals 7, Angels 3

Anaheim, Calif. — Jason Vargas earned his 10th win, most in the majors, and Salvador Perez hit a three-run homer as Kansas City beat Los Angeles.

Mike Moustakas had a three-run double for the Royals, who went 7-2 on their California trip and scored at least seven runs in six of those victories.

Vargas (10-3) gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings, and Kelvin Herrera got two outs for his 15th save. JC Ramirez (6-5) allowed five runs in three innings.